15 held, Rs 2.1 cr in banned Indian bank notes seized in Nepal

Kathmandu May 18 (IANS) Fifteen persons including three Indians have been arrested in connection with the seizure of demonetised Indian currency notes totalling nearly Rs 2.10 crore in Kathmandu Nepal Police said on Thursday.

Two persons were arrested with Rs 98 lakh in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1 000 notes from a rented house in the Nepal capital.

Over Rs 1.11 crore in scrapped notes were later seized from a car parked at a local hotel and three persons involved in currency exchange business arrested police said.

Those arrested include house owner Kamala Bhandari. The arrested Indians were identified as Ankur Kumar Agrawal Dinesh Agrawal and Anil Kumar Pansali.

Police said the seized notes were smuggled from India to Nepal to enable their exchange with Nepali currency.

Nepal is still awaiting India s nod to exchange demonetised Indian currency.

India s Reserve Bank of India has put a cap of Rs 4 500 on exchange of banned notes by an individual whereas Nepal has requested for an increase in the limit.

--IANS
giri/tsb/dg